The First of the Children
by Illiterate
Summary: The Glow of the Fingers...
1. Default Chapter

You gotta read this before reading the next chapters.

*The first of the children*

It all happened a year ago. Yes. A year ago.

The darkness engulfed Hermione in a confusing whirl of dark clouds. A corridor seemed to form in the rainbow of onyx. Walking blindly forward, she stopped dead in her tracks, only to see a silvery figure. It glowed like a blinding light. Hermione groped for the 'pot of gold' at the end of the tunnel. She broke into sweat as she ran to the glowing figure, but it seemed to get farther away from her as she got closer. Hermione finally felt the burning sensation of the light as she touched the womanly figure. It was like getting to close to a raging fire, and Hermione shielded her eyes from the glow. 

All of a sudden a whimsical voice spoke:

"Dear children you'll all live in turn, shortening the life of the last one. All of you combined creates you, confused child. It is only a matter of _time_." 

The figure advanced upon Hermione and touched her forehead with an extended fore-finger. Hermione felt electricity run through her, and as she felt it, the light got dimmer and dimmer. It finally blew out, and so did the figure. The voice still lingered long enough to utter one more word before it vanished:

"Tokimi..."

The darkness left with it, leaving Hermione's mind to nestle in a sheet of confusion. 

Well, there's the intro. What do u think? I'll finish the other chapter very soon, so I won't leave you hangin', hope you liked it! 


	2. Child 01

Disclaimer: I didn't do it! Hey... I can hardly read!

Tell me if they're a too many details. Some people say you can't have too many, but maybe I went overboard...

*Child 01*

Hermione Granger was an 11 year-old witch, and a very smart one. She invented things in her bedroom, which she transfigured into a laboratory for all of her studies. She usually kept to herself, though wouldn't say no to a friend or two. If she could get one, that is.

Hermione sat at her Nayru (a large, high-tech computer which she had invented) with her arms cradling her legs, floating on her levitating cushion. She was worried. The voice had said Tokimi would help... 

"Tokim - iii !!!" cried Hermione furiously. 

She jumped up off her cushion and started to scream out the name in vain. She had lived an entire year of fear, searching endlessly for Tokimi. The one who was supposedly going to help her live a better life! Hermione didn't want to live another second of people hating her and not caring... 

Devastated, she yelped and hot tears tarnished her smooth skin; she fell to her knees and broke down completely. Tears, pain... When will it all end?

The sound of glass shattering broke the silence.

An impulsive crash broke the sadness and a loud ringing suddenly filled the dark, misty laboratory. A powerful white beam started to stream out of Hermione's fingertips. The thin radiance coiled up into the oblivion of the darkness as Hermione stared, wide-eyed. The coils of illumination formed numerous cylinders. The edges of the large tanks dimmed till the lab was dark, again, and packed with a curved row of cylinders filled with shimmering water. Curious, Hermione pulled up a levitating cushion, stood on it, floated up to one of the cylinders, and placed her fore-finger in the liquid. The liquid turned from clear, to murky green, then crystal blue. A small, pink sphere took shape in the substance where the finger had touched the water, and a little fetus was visible through the glassy orb. The little orb sank to the bottom of the large tube and thin shards of glass floated up to the surface of the water. The fetus, still protected by a jelly substance, drifted up to the middle of the tank and rested there. 

Astounded, Hermione gaped at the minute unborn baby slowly swaying in the water. She then looked at her fingers, searching for an answer, all the while watching the silvery orb concealing the baby. 

Hermione closed her eyes, and opened them again. She was wearing high, black, slick boots; a smooth black corset with matching tight pants. The outfit was topped with a cowgirl hat tilted to the side of her head and a long black cape. She walked to the middle of the of the lab, and faced the metallic tanks, smooth and snappy, as though she knew what she was doing. 

Knew where she was going...

Placing both palms in front of her, her fingertips started to burn off a misty glow. It formed a cluster of bubbles. Each bubble floated to a tank and penetrated through the glass. The bubbles sank like the first one, and broke, leaving a little fetus in each cylinder. Floating to the pinnacle of the tanks, they nestled in their glossy exteriors, growing gradually into an unknown world.

Without a backward glace, Hermione turned swiftly on her heel, her black cape billowing silently behind her. She was leaving a life of tormenting memories behind, and moving towards a new life of opportunities. 

*?*


	3. Child 02

* Child 02 *

She started to bash at the glass. Feeling neglected, she bawled at the top of her lungs, but all that came out was a cluster of *bubbles.* 

Hermione strode off the Hogwarts Express and followed the rest of the group out into the storm. The darkness bounded them in a layer of cold and silence. Trudging along, Hermione looked around her. Everyone was making new friends, laughing, or at least smiling. She, however, couldn't join in the fun. What if they didn't like her? And anyway, Hermione justified with her mind, hadn't she forgotten something?

Roars of laughter erupted from the lab. The girls all stared at the Nayru's screen. It had been easy to escape from those wretched tanks full of water: one lucky child simply climbed down onto the cushion that Hermione had irresponsibly abandoned oh so close to the edge of the tank. You guessed the rest: the first one out of her tank helped her sisters out of theirs'. It's not that they couldn't breathe in the tanks; the silvery stuff in the water enabled you to do so. The thing is, no one likes to be concealed in a tank full of water for 11 days, feeling as though each day was a year! (in this case, literally) The girls, thinking they'd get revenge on whoever put them in the tanks, each pulled out a black uniform from random closets, and added berets for the finishing touch. Each as identical to the next one, they stalked out of the lab, a like cocky smirk on each face.

Hermione tilted her head towards the oblivion of the lake as she sat dreamily in her boat, drifting along the water. Wrapping herself in her black cape, she wondered what the boy sitting across the lake from her was thinking. He was so cute. His black hair, green eyes, they were so bright, they were visible in even the thickest fog. Smiling at herself, Hermione thought up strategies she could use to get his attention. Too preoccupied with her fantasies, she didn't notice his eyes lingering on her hands...

The girls laughed and screamed with glee, butterflies of joy in their stomachs, as they flew higher into the dawning sky. The edges of their capes tickled their faces as they zoomed faster and faster in the air, awaiting the sight of the North Tower. Only then would they be at destination... 

The boy suddenly gasped and looked away. Hermione heard his intake of breath and looked in his direction, anxiously worried. His face was now facing the other direction, so she knew something had happened. She didn't feel her burning fingertips, nor did she see the acid glow. 

The girls cackled as the got closer and closer to the castle. 

"Hermione will soon pay her debt! Plus interest!" laughed the girls.

Hermione didn't notice the glow till she put the Sorting hat on. After the hat had roared 'Griffindor' Hermione had thrown the hat down and run blindly to a classroom to hide. Blindly, because the tears shielded her sights as they left puddles and trails of her whereabouts. Taking a break from her miles of running through the immense castle, Hermione climbed up on a ladder and threw herself into the classroom and slammed the door behind her, making loud echoes through the corridors. Curled up in a poof, Hermione watched as her fingers glowed a murky blue. Lost in her thoughts, she tried to understand why they were glowing, all the while denying that she knew trouble was to come.

"All in good time, dearest." chorused the girls.

? What did you think? 


	4. Child 03

*Child 03*

Stretching and yawning, Hermione looked around at her surroundings as she pulled her black cape off of her knees. Every piece of colorful furniture had a shadow that darkened its shade. Thinking she'd let a little light in, she ambled over to the window, parted the curtains and gazed at the landscape.

"I remember now..." she evoked, staring at the peaks of trees and the towers overlooking the vast lake. The moon was inching upwards in the sky as the sun veiled itself behind the clouds. Feeling the moon's beams mingled with a soft breeze improved her mood. She somehow felt reassured.

All of a sudden, cruel, mischievous laughter echoed; traveling through the halls and filling the classrooms; dodging the gargoyle and spiraling up the staircase and alerting the headmaster's interest. 

The entire faculty split up to find the problem. All the kids exited their dormitories and cowered against each other as the suspense slowly picked at their flesh, making their hair stand on end. Finding the source of the noise, the crowd goggled at the sight before their eyes.

Hermione, staring wildly around her, and set her eyes on a barrier of girls. Girls, that were her exact replicas! Their large cinnamon eyes stared violently at her, staring straight into her petrified soul. They advanced on her, stretched out their arms, beckoning Hermione over. Hermione backed up to the window. The clones, apparently possessed, stopped and gazed at the ceiling, not a sound escaping their lips. Listening to the 'sound of silence' the girls had intent looks on their faces, as though someone was speaking to them. Someone no one else could hear or see. When their leader was finished speaking, they gaped at their hand as though they'd just realized they were there. Feeling as though they had extreme power, they lifted their hands and pressed their fingers on the girl standing in front of them while chanting:

'Child 03, we beckon thee' repeatedly.

Child 03 shrieked in agony as the girls pushed her forward roughly. She closed her eyes, a look of shame smothering her face. Lifting her face, she walked closer to Hermione, who had since been cowering in a corner of the room. Child 03 looked straight into Hermione's eyes and she calmed down a bit. 

*The crowd shuffled forward to get a better look*

Looking regretful, Child 03 vanished as a bubble appeared. Only then did Hermione realize who these girls were and did the memories of her past flood her mind. 

Tanks...Water...Silvery figure...Light...Moon...Sun...Stars...Cape...Swoosh...Laughter...Promise... 

Hope of a better life...

The clones looked at Hermione sympathetically as tears flooded her eyes. They poured down her cheeks as guilt weighed her down. Finally, Hermione fell to the floor and the bubble popped. A silvery phantom loomed out of Hermione's dead body and a gust of wind blew from every corner of the room. Hair billowing around her body, the phantom held herself securely as drapes enveloped her. She stepped off of the corpse and her eyes slowly opened. As they did, the corpse's eyes flickered before vanishing and leaving bloody blanks sockets. The blood dripped off the face of the phantom as her bloody eyes snapped open.


End file.
